Youth Empowerment
Welcome to the Red Medicine Youth Empowerment page. This page will be accessible to all youth to provide information, tools, and activities to help them in their learning and leadership development. This page will also highlight the success of all youth participants, showcasing their work.
More to come!
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The Red Medicine Tobacco Prevention Project youth empowerment will focus on working with Native youth to address commercial tobacco use. A summary of the youth activities is detailed below:
6-10 youth in each of the three sites will participate in a Tobacco Learning Collaborative (TLC) that will provide a comprehensive set of activities, including:
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Curriculum-based commercial tobacco virtual classes
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Trainings and leadership development
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Culturally-based tobacco products litter and waste cleanup events
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Developing commercial tobacco prevention media products
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Tribal council/boards testimony
The TLC activities are designed to build capacity and prepare youth for engaging in policy, systems and environmental change which includes influencing tribal leaders and local AIAN organization decision-makers to adopt and implement commercial tobacco litter/waste control and cessation policies.
The youth will lead cultural activities that engage community members and raise awareness about the harms of commercial tobacco products waste to both people and tribal community lands while celebrating Native American culture and values around traditional tobacco use.
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Example activities include:
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Gathering of Native Americans (GONA) bringing youth, community members, stakeholders, and tribal leaders together to address the detrimental impacts of commercial tobacco use to the health of people, lands and environment including plants, water systems and wildlife.
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Native American community and organization engagement to promote smoke and vape-free environments, smoking/vape cessation, and access to evidence-based cessation treatments.
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Influence tribal organizations to adopt smoke/vape-free policies and processes for referring community members who smoke and vape to local and statewide tobacco cessation treatment and services such as the California Smokers Helpline.
Youth Leadership
Every year, Red Medicine takes on around three Youth Interns and have them assist in organizing and running events such as cigarette clean ups, speaking to policy-makers, and even attending major anti-commercial tobacco events with other youth leaders.
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Check out some images from our Youth Interns at events!
In 2023, some youth from our Youth Tobacco Learning Collaborative Program were able to attend Youth Quest, a youth-led advocacy event in Sacramento to share their thoughts about commercial tobacco products.
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Check out these videos highlighting our youth from OVCDC Lake Isabella, Bakersfield American Indian Health Project, and Tachi Tribe!